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Description
This document presents objectives and preliminary results of the Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems (FARMS) study. This study assumes that estimates of soil erosion using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) represent long-term rather than short- term effects. The FARMS study randomly sampled 2400 plots over a three year period, 1980-82, for: crop management, soils, conservation practices and management, crop yields, soil chemistry, and sociological data.
This report presents analyses from the 800 plots sampled in 1980. Statistics of rill and sheet soil erosion, as estimated by the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), are presented. Data are presented for each of the factors in the USLE, for potato yields and quality, for yield of other field crops, and for soil nutrient analyses.
A significant response of yield to erosion was found when the dataset was limited to the most commonly found soil, Caribou (144 plots). Data analyses including potato yields for all varieties and soils (429 plots) do not show any relation to predicted erosion. Regression analysis predicts that for each ton increase in soil erosion per acre per year up to 12 tons, a decrease of 2.3 hundred- weight of potatoes per acre will occur. The cover and management factor (C) was found to be the most important variable in the USLE in predicting potato yield decreases. With each increase of 0.1 C, the predicted yield decrease amounted to 17 hundredweight gross for potatoes, and 20 hundredweight decrease for US-1 potatoes per acre.
Document Type
Bulletin
ISSN
0734-9548
Volume
799
Publication Date
10-1983
Publisher
Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station
City
Orono
Keywords
Soil erodiblility, Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems (FARMS), Universal Soil Loss Equation, relationship potato yield to soil erosion
Disciplines
Agricultural Economics | Agriculture
Recommended Citation
Hepler, Paul R.; Long, Lauren H.; and Ferwerda, John A.. 1983. B799: Field Appraisal of Resource Management Systems "Farms" Crop Yield and Quality Relationships with Soil Erosion. Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station Bulletins 799.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/120